EP0087776A2 - Procédé et dispositif pour augmenter la durée de vie et le rendement des dispositifs photovoltaiques à film mince - Google Patents

Procédé et dispositif pour augmenter la durée de vie et le rendement des dispositifs photovoltaiques à film mince Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0087776A2
EP0087776A2 EP83101862A EP83101862A EP0087776A2 EP 0087776 A2 EP0087776 A2 EP 0087776A2 EP 83101862 A EP83101862 A EP 83101862A EP 83101862 A EP83101862 A EP 83101862A EP 0087776 A2 EP0087776 A2 EP 0087776A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
defect
semiconductor layer
laser
scanning
eliminating
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP83101862A
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German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0087776A3 (en
EP0087776B1 (fr
Inventor
James E. Phillips
Patrick G. Lasswell
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
University of Delaware
Original Assignee
University of Delaware
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by University of Delaware filed Critical University of Delaware
Publication of EP0087776A2 publication Critical patent/EP0087776A2/fr
Publication of EP0087776A3 publication Critical patent/EP0087776A3/en
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Publication of EP0087776B1 publication Critical patent/EP0087776B1/fr
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H10F—INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION
    • H10F71/00—Manufacture or treatment of devices covered by this subclass
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02S—GENERATION OF ELECTRIC POWER BY CONVERSION OF INFRARED RADIATION, VISIBLE LIGHT OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT, e.g. USING PHOTOVOLTAIC [PV] MODULES
    • H02S50/00—Monitoring or testing of PV systems, e.g. load balancing or fault identification
    • H02S50/10—Testing of PV devices, e.g. of PV modules or single PV cells
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
    • Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
    • Y02P70/00—Climate change mitigation technologies in the production process for final industrial or consumer products
    • Y02P70/50—Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product

Definitions

  • the present invention includes as its novelty the use of such scanning equipment, in general, and laser scanners, in particular, in the manner set forth hereinafter, but such laser equipment, per se, and even with thin film photovoltaic cells, is not asserted to be novel.
  • NBS Special Publication 400-24, February 1977 by Sawyer and Berning describes a laser scanner for semiconductive devices. Further descriptions of laser scanners are also found in IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol. ED-27, No. 4, April 1980, pp. 864-872; Solid State Electronics Vol. 23, pp. 565-576, 1979; Proc. SPIE 24th Annual Int'l. Technical Symposium Vol. 248, p p .
  • any low resistance electrical path between copper sulfide and the substrate causes electromigration of copper and ultimate electrochemical decomposition of copper sulfide into, inter alia, a nodule or whisker of copper.
  • electrochemical decomposition of copper sulfide is recognized as one of the principal factors limiting widespread utilization of copper sulfide comprising photovoltaic cell devices. Elimination of shunting defects in accordance with this invention provides a useful means for obtaining Cu 2 S comprising photovoltaic cells having increased durability and reliability and which heretofore have been unavailable for utilization in photovoltaic ; power generation systems.
  • the semiconductor layers are deposited on a large area glass sheet.
  • the semiconductor layers are then etched and interconnected in order to form a plurality of strip photovoltaic cells which are electrically connected in a photovoltaic module.
  • the prior art has proposed the use of intermediate layers such as an A1 2 O 2 -CdS composite of U.S. Patent 4,159 ,914 in one case and cement buffer layer in another in order to prevent shorts and shunts.
  • the present invention provides a superior means for increasing the yield and durability of these types of photovoltaic devices as well.
  • the manufacturing process involves moving the substrate on a carrier or rollers through the steps of semiconductor deposition and junction formation. After these steps have been completed and prior to metallization, temporary contact is made to the transparent conductive oxide and to the uppermost semiconductor layer. Contact to the transparent conductive oxide is made at exposed edge 17 by a wiper 46 which functions as contact 26 of Figure 4. Contact to the upper surface of semiconductor layers 15 is made by another wiper 48 which functions as contact 20 of Figure 4. Alternatively wiper 48 may be replaced by a contact roller (not shown) functioning as roller 38 of Figure -6 or 7.
  • Laser beam 25 (Fig. 2) is scanned perpendicular to the direction of motion of substrate 12A. Shorts and shunting defects are located and removed in the inventive manner previously described.
  • the above invention is particularly advantageous in its manner of precisely locating and then immediately eliminating any shunting defect.
  • the invention is also particularly advantageous in that it lends itself to mass production techniques such as continuous manufacture of thin film photovoltiac devices. Accordingly the invention represents a significant advancement for increasing the durability and yield of such devices and may be readily applied to photovoltaic devices comprised of GaAs, or Zn 3 P 2 , or CuInSe 2 , or polycrystalline silicon.
  • the above invention is advantageous in precisely locating and eliminating defects which affect the performance, yield and reliability of thin film semiconductor devices such as are useful for electrophotography, radiation detectors and optical displays.

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  • Photovoltaic Devices (AREA)
EP83101862A 1982-02-25 1983-02-25 Procédé et dispositif pour augmenter la durée de vie et le rendement des dispositifs photovoltaiques à film mince Expired EP0087776B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US35221882A 1982-02-25 1982-02-25
US352218 1982-02-25

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0087776A2 true EP0087776A2 (fr) 1983-09-07
EP0087776A3 EP0087776A3 (en) 1983-10-05
EP0087776B1 EP0087776B1 (fr) 1987-06-10

Family

ID=23384255

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP83101862A Expired EP0087776B1 (fr) 1982-02-25 1983-02-25 Procédé et dispositif pour augmenter la durée de vie et le rendement des dispositifs photovoltaiques à film mince

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0087776B1 (fr)
JP (1) JPS58158977A (fr)
CA (1) CA1207069A (fr)
DE (1) DE3372047D1 (fr)

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0179403A3 (fr) * 1984-10-17 1988-08-31 Fuji Electric Corporate Research And Development Ltd. Appareil pour la fabrication d'un transducteur photoélectrique à couches minces
NL1013204C2 (nl) * 1999-10-04 2001-04-05 Stichting Energie Inrichting voor het lokaliseren van productiefouten in een fotovolta´sch element.
CN103597739A (zh) * 2011-03-23 2014-02-19 帕山股份公司 一种用于实现至少一个与至少一个光伏器件可拆卸电接触的系统和方法
WO2018024274A1 (fr) * 2016-08-02 2018-02-08 Aic Hörmann Gmbh & Co. Kg Procédé d'amélioration du comportement de contact ohmique entre une grille de contacts et une couche émettrice d'une cellule solaire au silicium
US11482630B2 (en) * 2018-02-07 2022-10-25 Ce Cell Engineering Gmbh Method for improving the ohmic-contact behaviour between a contact grid and an emitter layer of a silicon solar cell

Families Citing this family (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS60124882A (ja) * 1983-12-09 1985-07-03 Agency Of Ind Science & Technol 太陽電池の製造方法
US20070227586A1 (en) * 2006-03-31 2007-10-04 Kla-Tencor Technologies Corporation Detection and ablation of localized shunting defects in photovoltaics
EP2159583A1 (fr) * 2008-08-29 2010-03-03 ODERSUN Aktiengesellschaft Système et procédé de localisation et de passivation des défauts dans un élément photovoltaïque
DE102021132240A1 (de) 2021-12-08 2023-06-15 Hanwha Q Cells Gmbh Anlage zur Stabilisierung und/oder Verbesserung eines Wirkungsgrads einer Solarzelle und Verfahren zur Stabilisierung und/oder Verbesserung eines Wirkungsgrads einer Solarzelle

Non-Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
IBM TECHNICAL DISCLOSURE BULLETIN, vol. 19, no. 4, September 1976, pages 1457-1458, New York, USA; J.P. HOEKSTRA: "Testing a multilevel line structure for shorts". *
IBM TECHNICAL DISCLOSURE BULLETIN, vol. 24, no. 11B, April 1982, page 6027, New York, USA; S.M. SALEEM et al.: "Contactless electrical isolation detector". *
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, vol. ED-27, no. 4, April 1980, pages 864-872, New York, USA; D.E. SAWYER et al.: "Laser scanning of solar cells for the display of cell operating characteristics and detection of cell defects". *
OPTICS & LASER TECHNOLOGY, vol. 12, no. 6, December 1980, pages 317-320, Exeter, GB; "Automatic inspection of silicon wafers". *

Cited By (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0179403A3 (fr) * 1984-10-17 1988-08-31 Fuji Electric Corporate Research And Development Ltd. Appareil pour la fabrication d'un transducteur photoélectrique à couches minces
NL1013204C2 (nl) * 1999-10-04 2001-04-05 Stichting Energie Inrichting voor het lokaliseren van productiefouten in een fotovolta´sch element.
WO2001026163A1 (fr) * 1999-10-04 2001-04-12 Stichting Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland Dispositif permettant de localiser des defauts de fabrication dans un substrat d'element photovoltaique
AU772404B2 (en) * 1999-10-04 2004-04-29 Sunlab B.V. Apparatus for localizing production errors in a photovoltaic element
US6750662B1 (en) 1999-10-04 2004-06-15 Stichting Energieonderzoek Centrum Nederland Apparatus for localizing production errors in a photovoltaic element
CN103597739A (zh) * 2011-03-23 2014-02-19 帕山股份公司 一种用于实现至少一个与至少一个光伏器件可拆卸电接触的系统和方法
CN103597739B (zh) * 2011-03-23 2016-12-14 帕山股份公司 一种用于实现至少一个与至少一个光伏器件可拆卸电接触的系统和方法
WO2018024274A1 (fr) * 2016-08-02 2018-02-08 Aic Hörmann Gmbh & Co. Kg Procédé d'amélioration du comportement de contact ohmique entre une grille de contacts et une couche émettrice d'une cellule solaire au silicium
US11393944B2 (en) 2016-08-02 2022-07-19 Ce Cell Engineering Gmbh Method for improving ohmic contact behaviour between a contact grid and an emitter layer of a silicon solar cell
US11482630B2 (en) * 2018-02-07 2022-10-25 Ce Cell Engineering Gmbh Method for improving the ohmic-contact behaviour between a contact grid and an emitter layer of a silicon solar cell
US11784263B2 (en) 2018-02-07 2023-10-10 Ce Cell Engineering Gmbh Method for improving ohmic-contact behaviour between a contact grid and a emitter layer of a silicon solar cell

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPS58158977A (ja) 1983-09-21
EP0087776A3 (en) 1983-10-05
DE3372047D1 (en) 1987-07-16
JPH0377672B2 (fr) 1991-12-11
CA1207069A (fr) 1986-07-02
EP0087776B1 (fr) 1987-06-10

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